The goal is to leave you with a system that is stable and can adapt to your developing needs for years to come. The installation should work the same on refurbished laptops as it does on other computers.

I tried to focus on the philosophy behind the sequence, so that the guide will apply to as many people
as possible.

I tried to avoid getting bogged down in trivial details,
such as "Click on the Next button".

Realize though, that everyone's system will be different, and it's difficult
to craft a guide where one-size-fits-all. For example, my
PC does not use RAID.
Therefore you will need to do your own homework if your system contains
a striped array.

None
of these other guides however, will "Radify"
your system. Here is a Google search pre-configured for the terms: windows+xp+installation.

During the install, keep a pen and pad of paper handy. Write down any
questions you might encounter, and also any errors.
If you don't write them down, you will forget. It's easier to find a
solution if you know (exactly) what the problem is.

But you should not
be getting errors. And if you have a question, it's likely someone else
will have the same one. This means the guide may need to be clarified
in certain parts.

There is a method to my madness. There are exceptions, but, in general,
you want to install newer files after older ones. The goal is a stable
PC. There's nothing so
digitally frustrating as a computer that locks or crashes at
the wrong time.

Before we begin, I want to express my gratitude to everyone who wrote
in to share their insights on the best way to install Windows (especially
Joshua, who sent several
pages of insightful comments).

My experience is limited. Comments from
readers the world over are what make these
guides so helpful. So, if I missed something, let
me know.

Instead of carrying on with a lengthy intro, about how the author of
this guide, and its collaborators, combined, have installed Windows
over 300 times, on a variety of platforms, making every
mistake known to man in the process, and thereby learning what *not*
to do, let's jump right in and get started.

On the next page, we'll download and burn all the essential files we need to install Windows XP. We'll also discuss initial hardware configuration, and how to configure our motherboard BIOS.
We'll also take a look how to partition our hard drive.
Ready? Let's do it.